Taking your child to have their vaccinations is probably a more stressful time for you as a parent than it is for your little one. No one likes to see their child upset, scared or in pain. That’s why we’ve put together a few tips to make sure the vaccination process goes as smoothly, and painlessly, as possible…

Dealing with fear

When you take your child for their first vaccinations, it’s likely they’ll be too young to have any understanding of what is going on. But, as they get older and return for their booster shots, it’s natural they may be anxious.

But, if you stay calm yourself,your child will take their cue from your attitude. Be honest about where you are going and why. Tell them you’re going to the doctor for a vaccination to help stop them from getting poorly. Don’t lie and say it won’t hurt at all because even tiny children know a fib when they hear one.

Timing is key

If you can, try to get an appointment early in the day so your child doesn’t have long to worry about what is about to happen. But, do leave yourself plenty of time to get there. If you’re stressed about making it to your appointment, then your little one will pick up on it. Instead, arrive a few minutes early. That way, you can play with the toys at the surgery, if there are some provided. Or you can take a book with you to read together while you wait for your name to be called.

Choose the right clothing

You want to make having their jabs as quick and painless as possible for your child and what they wear can make a difference. Depending on where they are having their vaccination, usually in their thigh, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible for the doctor or nurse to do their job. So, if it’s summer, you could put your little one in shorts or a skirt, while if the weather is cooler, then a pair of jogging bottoms would be a good option. You don’t want to create any extra fuss by having to take off tights or unfasten zips and buttons.

After the appointment

Give your child a nice cuddle after the shot, praise them for being brave and reassure them you’re there to look after them if they’re a little sore. Don’t dwell on it though. Move onto another activity, like a nice movie and some popcorn at home.

Do be aware though that vaccines, like all medicines, can have side effects. Most, such as redness around the vaccine area or a mild fever, aren’t serious and should disappear after a day or two. The 5-in-1 vaccine is the first in a series of jabs children will be offered. It is very safe but complications can happen so it’s important to keep a close eye on your little one in the days after the vaccination. Rare complications can include a severe allergic reaction or a seizure.

A survey carried out by the Medical Defence Unit (MDU) found that family doctors had been involved in vaccination mistakes affecting 98 children over five years, including patients being given the wrong vaccine or dose, or being vaccinated without consent. In one instance, for example, the family of a newborn baby launched a medical negligence claim after he was given an overdose of the tuberculosis vaccine.

When your child shouldn’t have vaccinations

Every parent wants to do all they can to try to ensure their child is as healthy as possible and that will usually mean taking them along for routine childhood vaccinations. But, there are reasons why some children shouldn’t be vaccinated. A child who is ill on the day he or she is due to attend their appointment will probably be asked to come back another day.

Also, if your little one has had a serious allergic reaction after getting a vaccine or to a substance in a vaccine, they shouldn’t have that vaccine again. A child shouldn’t have the 5-in-1 vaccine if they have had a brain or nervous system disease within the last week, have cried non-stop for more than three hours, have ever collapsed or had a seizure or have had a very high fever. Your little one shouldn’t have a polio vaccine if they are severely allergic to certain antibiotics and the Hepatitis B vaccine shouldn’t be offered if they are allergic to yeast.

Put it all into perspective

Just remember though, the vast majority of children sail through their vaccinations completely unscathed, with perhaps just a little soreness. All they need to come through their experience is a little cuddle from mom or dad and, maybe, a lollipop or a sticker for being brave.

The Academy Awards are coming up. What do you do to celebrate that night of glamor and awards?

If you are having friends and family in to watch together, you must get some delicious tips from Sissy Biggers, lifestyle expert who has been featured on The Today Show and The Chew.

Biggers gives us some super quick and fun ideas for “Best Starring Roll” using prepared seafood salad and King’s Hawaiian rolls and tzatiki dip in a carved-out bread bowl from King’s Hawaiian.

Full disclosure – I was provided with free samples of both the rolls and the bread from King’s Hawaiian and my family LOVED them!

For a chance to win $10,000, visit www.starringroll.com and upload your pictures from your Oscar party or by submitting your very own King’s Hawaiian recipe. The deadline for entry is February 28, 2015.

Marijo Tinlin is the editor of Family First, the author of “How to Raise an American Patriot” as well as the owner of a marketing/business consulting company called Sunrise Business Consulting.

We love our pets but it’s hard to get close to them when they have bad breath and the worst part is: this could be an warning sign of poor health and potential problems.

Over 90% of dogs over the age of 3 suffer from some sort of dental disease. Do you know how to check to see if your dog or cat is healthy?

In the interview below with Family First’s Marijo Tinlin, pet health expert and doctor of veterinary medicine Andrea Sanchez gives us the 3 steps to helping keep your pets gums healthy. February is pet dental health month so it’s the perfect time to learn these great tips.

Some health issues correlated to poor oral health include kidney, liver or heart disease. You can prevent these with a 3-step process, according to Sanchez.

1. Flip – flip your pet’s lips so you can see their teeth and check for yellow or brown stains or gum redness. Try brushing their teeth regularly, if they will let you.

Hey, don’t forget Valentine’s Day is coming up this week. If you haven’t made that reservation to a fancy restaurant yet, wait! Family First with the help of YouTube sensation Laura Vitale can help.

Vitale, the host of YouTube’s “Laura in the Kitchen” and The Cooking Channel’s “Simply Laura” has some fantastic ideas for you to make Valentine’s Day, or really any date night dinner, truly special and SUPER easy.

Watch the video below for the interview she did with Family First’s Marijo Tinlin that gives you simply and easy ideas for a romantic but casual night in. Don’t worry about parking or getting a sitter – just enjoy each other at home with these great ideas (and the recipes follow the video below). For more information, visit forkful.com.

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Position one oven rack in the lower third of the oven and the other in the center. 2) Season both sides of the chicken well with seasoned salt and black pepper and set aside. 3) Preheat an oven proof skillet over medium high heat, add the oil and allow it to get nice and hot, add the chicken, skin side down and cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until it develops some good deep golden brown color. Discard any oil from the pan. 4) To the same skillet over medium heat, add the butter and allow it to melt, add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute. 5) Add the wine, allow it to reduce by half, this will take about 30 seconds, add the lemon juice, chicken stock and rosemary and bring mixture to a boil. 6) Add the chicken back into the sauce (skin side up) and pop it all in the oven on the middle rack. Roast for about 25 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked through. 7) Scatter the potatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer, and pop them in the oven on the lower rack. Roast alongside the chicken giving them a toss every 10 minutes to insure even cooking. Ten minutes after you put them in, sprinkle some rosemary over top (doing this at this point helps the rosemary adhere to the potatoes) and continue roasting. 8) Remove the chicken from the oven, scatter over some parsley and serve alongside the roasted potatoes.

1) Fill a large pot with water, add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. 2) In a large skillet with high sides, add the olive oil and preheat it over medium heat, add the pancetta and cook until the pancetta renderers it’s fat and crisps up a bit, this will take around 5 minutes. 3) Add the garlic, saute for an additional 2 minutes or until the garlic lightly browns. 4) Add the tomato sauce, the italian seasoning and sugar, give everything a nice stir bring the mixture up to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low. Partially cover the skillet with a lid and simmer for 25 minutes. 5) About 10 minutes before the sauce is done cooking, the pasta water should be boiling, add the pasta, cook according to package instructions and drain well. 6) Add the cherry peppers to the sauce along with a good pinch of salt and pepper, stir in the pasta, parsley and parmigiano. Serve right away!

Enjoy your sweetheart and enjoy the day!

]]>0Joel Commhttp://familyfirst.com/?p=130232015-01-08T02:00:23Z2015-01-06T21:11:41ZLast week was the biggest trade show on the planet, Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Over 150,000 attendees walked the miles of show floor and exhibition space to view the hottest new products either on the market or headed there soon.

“Jamie’s Got a Gadget” Founder Jamie Sorcher shows us the hottest items she’s found at last week’s show. In the following two videos, you’ll see some of the most cutting-edge devices on the market, or in some cases, testing to see if there is a market.

She features devices for your car, home and for your personal use. You’ll be amazed at the things you can do now! Find out more about these gadgets at www.jamiesgotagadget.com

As we get down to the wire for Christmas and Hanukkah, you may be looking for some great gift ideas. Toy expert Elizabeth Werner speaks to Family First Editor-In-Chief Marijo Tinlin about her picks for some of the best last-minute gift items.

Some of her favorites include the new mobile game from Hasbro called Words with Friends. She also likes Hot Wheels’ new Ballistics which is a ball that turns into a car and (the best part) requires NO batteries! It’s also a reasonably-priced item so it would be great for a gift tree or gift exchange item.

Check out her other ideas in the video below and please go to her website at www.wernerinfo.com

If you are a fan of Lumosity games, you are going to love the five family-friendly games from Wisconsin-based Maranda Enterprises including Dotzee, Settrio, Quanzy, Nounsense and Speedy Recall.

All of these games use the power of your brain including recall skills, quick thinking and pattern recognition. Here is a brief breakdown of these games:

Dotzee – dice game where players look for patterns in their dice a la poker hands. The game is always changing so you have to be fast to get the answers.

Settrio – similar to dominoes but using hexagonal chips with various colors and shapes. No two chips are the same but players match on what’s the same – color, shape or pattern.

Quanzy – hexagonal chips are matched by color, shape and pattern to get four in a row.

Nounsense – a word game like password for speed. Players have 1 minute to name as many of the things described (but not named) on the one of the 480 cards.

Speedy Recall – players race to name places, objects and people from a pile of category cards but they must start with the letter from the letter pile. There are no wrong answers but you must be the first!

These games are available for purchase on the Maranda website. Most are meant for 2-6 players and take less than 30 minutes to play.

For more challenging games, check out their wooden strategy games including Abacan, Eternas, Hexover, Pathagon, Quadefy, and Trappex. They also have a collection of “active” games too for when the family needs to burn off a little steam after that big holiday meal.

Marijo Tinlin is the Editor in Chief of Family First, one of the oldest family-oriented websites on the internet. She writes for www.OnTheCulture.com, is the Managing Editor of www.myColoradoview.com and she runs a small business with her husband. She is also the author of the famous book about teaching patriotism to our children called “How to Raise an American Patriot, Making it Okay for Our Kids to Be Proud to Be American.” It features 13 interviews with patriotic Americans including Ed Meese, Erick Erickson and Jackie Gingrich Cushman. Your signed copy, along with a FREE copy of the Constitution, is available at www.raisinganamericanpatriot.com.

Remember film strips and big projectors? Today’s classroom is about as far as possible away from that. With the help of technology, the farthest corners of the world are coming right into kids’ classes through Skype and other ways.

Teacher Amy Rosenstein is on the cutting edge of using these innovative techniques. From Hong Kong to India to France, she’s bringing the world a little closer to kids and making geography real. Rosenstein has won a Pioneer Award for her use of technology to teach.

Below is an interview she did with Marijo Tinlin from Family First about these new techniques. She gives this website as a free resource to parents, teachers and kids to find out more: https://education.skype.com/

Toys are the common gifts that kids receive during Christmas. However, this does not mean that you have to spend too much on these items. You can still give toys to your kids without spending too much on toys. Here are some tips that you can follow so that you can save on Christmas toys.

First, consider the used toys. Kids will eventually outgrow and being disinterested with their toys. There is also a possibility that they will run out of room to store their toys. When this happens, they will eventually end up in Salvation Army, in the Goodwill stores and in eBay. If you need toys, you can go to these locations. You can choose the toy and design that you want and of course they will be cheaper compared to brand new toys.

You can turn to your neighbors for help. There are neighbors who may be having a garage sale so they can free up more room for other important stuff. You can do a neighbor swap or you can try buying toys for a very cheap price. You can even get superior toys just because the owner no longer want it or has no more room to store it. This is way better than buying expensive toys on the supermarket.

The tips mentioned above are practical ways to save money on Christmas toys. There are other creative ways to save money on Christmas toys such as looking for toys that will last longer and will be available for playing for a much longer time.